Football inspires irrational behavior. We treat the release of the NFL schedule like it’s a national holiday. We assign letter grades to draft picks within 24 hours of their selection, even though the league is notorious for bust rate and unpredictability.
But seriously: Carson Beck?
During the 2026 NFL Draft, the Cardinals managed to exhilarate and exasperate. They produced a colorful tapestry of conviction and weirdness. And that was in the first three rounds.
The selection of Notre Dame running back Jeremiyah Love hit like a thunderbolt. Most (real) Cardinals fans were adrenalized by the bold and luxurious behavior, for sticking to their board and drafting the best overall player.
By the time Love finished his dazzling introductory press conference in Tempe, even the naysayers were leaning in the right direction. And then we all nodded with approval following the team’s second-round addition of Chase Bisontis, the last premium offensive lineman left on the board.
But then: Carson Beck?
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Beck has tons of collegiate experience, checking the box that plagued Alabama’s Ty Simpson (15 starts). He’s as tall as Jacoby Brissett, checking the box that plagued Kyler Murray. But he brings a suitcase full of concerns and personality stuff, especially as the 65th overall pick. Most notably:
He was a sixth-year senior when he quarterbacked the University of Miami to the College Football Playoff championship game. Experience is a great tool. But would a true franchise quarterback ever need six years in college? To wit: Beck entered college the same year as C.J. Stroud.
More to the point: It was widely reported that the Cardinals were seeking Alabama’s Simpson as their roll-of-the-dice quarterback, a player with a much different profile; a quarterback who is small and inexperienced; a player who was scooped up by the Rams with the 13th overall pick.
As a result, reaching up for Beck after losing out on Simpson feels desperate. Like the team was hellbent on choosing a quarterback, and not their quarterback. And this is where it gets fun:
Did the Cardinals use a 65th overall pick as a leverage play/insurance policy against Jacoby Brissett, the assumed incumbent who is essentially on strike and in pursuit of more money?
Brissett has only $1.5 million of guaranteed money left on his contract, an absurdly low figure for an NFL starting quarterback. Especially one who averaged 240 passing yards per contest and set a league record for completions in a game (47) while getting a sacked 43 times.
In theory, drafting Beck allows the Cardinals to declare there is no incumbent in Arizona, that the quarterback position will be an open competition between Brissett, Beck and Gardner Minshew. That would greatly diminish Brissett’s claims. It would also allow the Cardinals to trade Brissett, if necessary.
Nobody knows how long the Brissett saga has been lingering, primarily because Brissett doesn’t have an agent. It might’ve been the trigger point for signing Minshew in the first place, a player whose acquisition during free agency felt as bizarre as the selection of Beck in the NFL Draft.
Chances are, Brissett is asking for a lot. Otherwise, this situation would’ve and should’ve been resolved a long time ago. And now, it seems the Cardinals have control of the chessboard.
Yet, a warning: For all the fans who complain that Brissett only produced one victory in relief of Murray, just wait until you see how bad it might get in 2026, when Minshew makes a few fruitless starts inside the NFL’s roughest division, then gives way to Beck, who is nowhere ready for the big stage.
That could happen, which would put the Cardinals at the top of the 2027 NFL Draft. And maybe that’s the plan.
But beware: The players in the locker room know what Brissett did for the team in 2025, and the collisions he endured to make it happen. And a quarterback room rounded out by Minshew, Beck and Kedon Slovis might kill hope and breed resentment, spawning a season lost before it begins.
Reach Bickley at [email protected]. Listen to Bickley & Marotta weekdays from 6 a.m. – 10 a.m. on 98.7 and the Arizona Sports app.
Follow @danbickley
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